If one talks with enough people about their experience with SASE, almost everyone will come away with the overriding feeling that to be a part of SASE means being part of a close-knit family. That couldn’t be more true for Frederica, who remembers fondly the formal and not-soformal events that her college chapter leaders hosted, especially during her senior year, that spotlighted how fun, cohesive, and coordinated their chapter was. 

But after being away from SASE for four years, she came back and was re-introduced to her old collegiate chapter with all new faces. 

“I was immediately embraced by my collegiate chapter and National Conference family, which felt particularly meaningful as at the time, I was going through a difficult friendship breakup,” she said. “I questioned my own integrity and likability, and I wasn’t even sure if I could ever open up to a person again. But at the National Conference, I experienced a wave of catharsis; I was closing a big door in my life, but I was opening several new doors to new friendships. My SASE fam helped me heal from that difficult experience.” 

“Ask questions, and recognize that the expectations for you as a member or volunteer are not always going to be a linear line of commands. This is where curiosity can help bring clarity on what needs to be done or where there’s an opportunity to improve something,” she advised. “I was interested in creating a wiki for SASE, so I asked my committee manager where I could host a wiki; he pointed me to a gitbook that Victor had already started and populated with tons of information. I was able to build upon the immense progress that Victor made to build something together written from the perspective of Leadership and IT, but if I hadn’t asked Rolland all the detailed questions that I did, I would not have understood the complexity of SASE’s IT network to the degree I do now.”